studio storage

why i use cardboard boxes for fabric storage in my studio

they don't cost anything

they're endlessly available

they're tidy and light

they stack like blocks

you can draw on them and cut them up

if i move house, my fabric is already packed

i like to intersect things before they're chucked out

i don't like owning things/it doesn't feel like i own cardboard boxes

multi-purposeful: you can use them again, and they're recyclable

i have heeeeeaps of fabric, so i need heeeeaps of storage.

silk stairs

 

sources: white stairs and marble stairs

layered paneled trousers [part of my collection posted below]

secondhand knit

i've been confronting myself with the waste generated through clothing consumption, so i'm in the midst of facing reality and creating constructive habits when purchasing and disposing of materials and garments. i'm big on reusing and re adapting, so everything i own gets chopped up at some point, and eventually turned into something else entirely.

i occasionally have the inclination to wear white head to toe, buut always end up covered in stains because i'm messy ^.^ white doesn't really spring to mind in terms of garments that last, so i definitely prefer the symbolism and aesthetic of the colour, rather than actually wearing it. that said, i always wear this chunky knit i scored for $10, which is very satisfying as i know it it cost over $200 new. anyway, here's how the rest of its life will go:

when it starts to pill and brown it will become my snuggly house jumper. when it dies completely i'll take it apart and make a pattern of the shape, so that i can make another in a darker shade. then i will use the pieces of material for mock ups, cleaning rags or stuffing for something like a jacket or a cushion!

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i like dries van noten's viewpoint as a designer:

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and i keep this article stuck above my sewing machine in my studio as motivation and a reminder of what i am doing and why:

interpretations of sight and mind

this little collection was a recreation of a week i spent alone in paris early last year. i love exploring alone because my thoughts and ideas are able to fully develop. on returning home i wanted to translate what i had physically seen and what i had imagined into my designs to relay what had then only existed in my head.

i change so much during this process of drawing out what's inside my head and making it into something tangible, and in a way i can't stand looking at a lot of the garments i've made because i've moved on since then. for me my designs are like a discussion, through which i learn more about myself and life in general through the subjects i study.

once i've completed a collection, i've learnt and i'm ready to move on and learn something else. so these few images above are a form of documentation, which is ironic because in a way these garments were a form of documentation of the time i spent in paris. which i suppose conveys the continuous conversation i have with myself through the things that i create.

1) Me Yim Low: Paris Rooftops seen from the Pompidou Centre
2) Susan Beaman: Paris Rooftops
3) floating clothes rack inspired by Ivania's DIY

people

"despite everything, i believe that people are really good at heart." Anne Frank

"people inspire you, or they drain you - pick them wisely." hans f. hansen

"people think being alone makes you lonely, but i don't think that's true. being surrounded 
by the wrong people is the loneliest thing in the world."Kim Culberston

"i don't know why, some people fill the gaps and other emphasise my loneliness" anais nin

"people are strange: they are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter 
like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice." charles bukowski

"a lot of my inspiration comes from watching people and trying to understand or interpret 
their actions. human behaviour is something i'm fascinated by." faris badwan

"some people, unable to go to school are more educated and more intelligent than college 

professors." Maya Angelo

sources: 1 Geran Knol, 2 Faris Badwan, 3 Tim Svenonius, 4 four, 5 Adriana Lychacz, 6 Daniel Grendon, 7 Moey Hoque, 8 Pam et Jenny

paper thin

i made this super flat wallet out of a single scrap of leather 

to replace the chunky grandma one [which i'll take back to the charity shop]

its so thin it feels like paper in my bag, 

or i can fold it up into a square

reusing "rubbish"

i retrieved this plastic bag from the rubbish bin, because i thought it had potential. it 

was one of those packaging bags that sheets come in, but serves other purposes now- 

for the last two and a half weeks it has been:

-lunch bag by day

-a clutch by night

source